Gaijin  
 
Part 19: Return to the Dark Tower

By Sean D'Anna
 
=====  
 
Carrot smiled as he stood next to Michiru. Mamoru was out 
cold, he doubted if he would run into anyone else that night. 
 
She looked somewhat pensive and nervous as she walked along 
beside him. 
 
"Something wrong?" he asked as he glanced back at her and 
took of the sunglasses he'd taken from the bar. 
 
"Who was that?" she asked. 
 
"Oh. Mamoru? Just some loser who has something against me. No 
big deal really, he's been like that since I met him." 
 
"That wasn't Tuxedo Mask?" she asked as she glanced back. 
 
"Yeah, it was. His real name is Mamoru Chiba," replied the 
boy with a small shrug. "He's something of a loser really. He can 
get annoying at times." 
 
Michiru nodded silently and continued to walk beside him. 
They were heading back to Gia's clinic, where she had parked her 
car. She paused when he grinned at her and stopped walking. 
 
"Huh? Now what?" he muttered as he glanced back at her. 
 
"The bruise!" she gasped. 
 
"Huh? This thing?" He rubbed at his face absently. 
 
"It's...almost gone," she said as she peered at his face a 
little closer. 
 
"He didn't hit me that hard," he replied with a small shrug. 
 
The girl frowned at him. The mark was rather nasty looking 
only a half-hour before. "Are you sure?" 
 
"Yeah, that sort of thing looks worse than it really is at 
first anyway," he said as he shrugged it off. 
 
"I suppose so," she said as she nodded once. Maybe he was 
right; he did seem to know a lot about that sort of thing. 
 
Carrot smirked as he stopped just ahead of the street where 
Gia's clinic was. "Well, I guess this is it. I'll walk you to 
your car." 
 
"You're not going home?" she asked as she turned to look at 
him in surprise. 
 
"Nah. That idiot got me all worked up. I'll probably go find 
a drink or something and hang around," he replied as he shrugged. 
"I could use one right about now." 
 
"You drink?" she said with a slightly scandalized gasp. 
 
"Huh? Not regularly. I'm not above a cold one now and then 
though. I usually don't have time though." 
 
She blushed and nodded. "Oh." 
 
"Well, I guess we should..." 
 
"I'll go with you then. I doubt if I'm going to sleep much 
tonight anyway," she said as she shifted her purse on her 
shoulder a little. 
 
"Huh?" The boy seemed to think about it for a moment. "Okay, 
I guess." 
 
"I'll buy, it's the least I can do," she said as she turned 
back away from the street. 
 
"Hey. Where are we going?" he muttered in surprise as he 
started after her. "You know where you're going?" 
 
Michiru glanced back at him. "I know someone who owns a place 
near here." 
 
"Oh," said the boy as he stopped and stared at her rather 
dumbly. "Okay then." 
 
+++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot glanced around at the small smoky looking neighborhood 
bar and frowned. It was a nice place, and actually looked rather 
classy. "Never noticed this before." 
 
"It's owned by an old friend of my father. He used to come 
here a lot when he was younger," explained Michiru as she walked 
in just behind him. 
 
"Not gonna run into your old man now are we?" said Carrot as 
he grinned at her. 
 
"No, he doesn't stop by much anymore. I used to play my 
violin here sometimes when I was little," said the girl as she 
smiled at him. "Uncle Jiro is very nice." 
 
Carrot nodded, not particularly interested in the story. 
"Yeah. That's nice." It sounded sincere enough to satisfy her. 
 
"Come on. I'll introduce you," said the girl as she walked 
towards the bar. A few of the patrons gave them sidelong glances, 
but no one really cared about the two youths being there much. 
 
"Heya," said a large figure just behind the doorway. 
 
Carrot blinked as he turned to face the voice. "Spike?" 
 
"How ya doin?" said the large man as he gave the boy a wry 
looking grin. 
 
"What are you doing here?" muttered the boy as he stared up 
at his large friend. 
 
"I do some work here sometimes," replied the man with a small 
shrug. 
 
"Spike is one of my best employees," said a kindly older 
voice. "Hello." 
 
"Uncle Jiro!" said Michiru as she gave the man a warm hug. He 
was a short partially bald man in his sixties. He had a cane in 
his hand as he slowly moved towards them. 
 
"Hey," said Carrot as he raised his hand in greeting. 
 
"Well. It would make your father very upset if he found out 
that you've been hanging around his type. You must be Carrot." 
 
"Yeah. Nice to meet you," said the boy as he blinked in 
surprise. 
 
"Spike has told me quite a bit about you. Very interesting 
things indeed," said the man as he gave the boy a mischievous 
looking grin. 
 
"Really? Like what?" said the boy as he glanced at the larger 
man for a moment. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad. 
 
"Nothing really important. How did you meet Michiru here? I 
never expected to see her around here at this time of night. Are 
your parents away?" 
 
"Yes," muttered the girl with a heavy blush. "Carrot helped 
me out yesterday." 
 
The man arched his eyebrow slightly. "Ah. I see. You have my 
thanks then." 
 
"Sure. Anytime," said the boy quietly. He wasn't entirely 
comfortable with the situation. 
 
"What do you do here Spike? Seems kinda small for a bouncer," 
said Carrot as he turned towards the most familiar face. 
 
"Naw. I run da bar for da old man on da weekends sometimes," 
replied the man as he shrugged. 
 
"You can do that? You can't even read," said Carrot as he 
stared at the man. 
 
"I can, just not real good," muttered Spike as he blushed a 
bit. 
 
"You haven't been by to see Gia lately," commented Carrot as 
they moved towards the bar. The old man walked behind it with 
Spike at his side. 
 
"Kinda crowded over dere," said the man as he blushed a 
little. 
 
"I suppose so. She can go over to your place ya know." 
 
Spike blinked. "Nah. She don't like da rats much." 
 
Carrot shrugged as a bottle was placed in front of him. 
"Whatever." 
 
"How's tings goin?" asked Spike as he glanced at Michiru. She was 
looking pretty cheerful. 
 
"Okay I guess, still got the same problems," replied the boy 
as he downed half the bottle in a single gulp. 
 
Michiru stared at him oddly for a moment and Spike grinned. 
 
"Dat's too bad. Da boss says you can have yer old job back 
whenever yer done." 
 
"I'll remember that," said Carrot. 
 
Michiru started coughing as she placed her own half-empty 
bottle down on the counter. 
 
"Hey, slow down," said Carrot as he patted her on the back. 
 
"Sorry," she muttered sheepishly. 
 
"It's not good for you to start out like that," said the boy 
as he glanced at Spike. 
 
"So? Dis chick is yer girlfriend?" said Spike. 
 
"Huh? Her? Not really. I just met her a few days ago," said 
Carrot as he glanced at her for a moment. 
 
Michiru frowned at the larger man. "He's not my type." 
 
Carrot found himself grinning at this. "Boy is that ever an 
understatement." 
 
"What's that supposed to mean?" she growled at him. 
 
"Heh. Nothing, don't worry about it." 
 
Spike chuckled at her glare as she stared at Carrot a little 
irritably. 
 
"What's so funny?" 
 
"Nuthin," said Spike as he shook his head. "Just never 
expected da kid ta hang around someone like ya. He seems more 
like da type my kid sister likes." 
 
"You have a sister?" said Carrot as he stared at the man. The 
mental image he got was not pretty. 
 
"Yeah. I never showed ya?" said the man dumbly. "Here." He 
pulled out a wallet and tossed a photo onto the counter. 
 
Carrot was surprised to say the least. It was a pretty young 
girl, but she looked rather rough. She had several piercings and 
a bright red leather jacket. She was standing next to a tough 
looking man on a motorcycle. "She's cute. She doesn't live around 
here?" 
 
"Naw, she lives in Okinawa wit Slash ere," said the man as he 
picked up the photo and put it back in his pocket. 
 
"Good for her then," said the boy as he nodded. 
 
"That's cute?" muttered Michiru under her breath. She didn't 
look really disgusted, but seemed unable to understand. 
 
"She's a pretty girl, probably a little rough around the 
edges is all," said Carrot as he shrugged. 
 
"Yup. She's a tough one," agreed Spike. 
 
"I can see that," said the girl as she smiled at him warmly. 
 
"She'd have to be to put up with Spike here," said Carrot. 
"He's not the brightest of people." 
 
"Ya got dat right! Haw!" said the man cheerfully. 
 
Michiru gave them both an odd look and took another drink. 
"I'll never understand boys." 
 
"What's to understand?" asked Carrot. 
 
Michiru looked at him oddly. 
 
The boy shrugged and looked up at the larger man. "Hey Spike. 
What ya thinkin about?" 
 
"Huh? Nuthin," said the man dumbly. 
 
Carrot looked at Michiru and grinned widely. "He means that." 
 
The girl blushed as the joke went right over Spikes head. He 
gave a casual shrug and wandered off as another of the patrons 
got his attention. 
 
Carrot looked at his bottle and picked it up before taking 
another drink. 
 
Michiru sighed and did the same as she shook her head. 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot woke up and groaned in pain. He couldn't remember the 
last time he'd had a hangover. It was his first one in the new 
world, and it wasn't any different than it was before. "Damn. 
Forgot about..." He stopped and froze in place. 
 
He was not in Gia's clinic, and someone had their arm strewn 
across his back. 
 
"Oh shit." 
 
Slowly he turned his head and whimpered at what he saw. 
 
Michiru Kaiou was naked and barely covered in the sheets of her 
bed. The sunlight tore into his eyes as he stared, causing him to 
squint as he slowly slid away from her across the mattress. 
 
"This isn't happening..." he mumbled as he found himself flat 
on his back on the floor as he ran out of mattress. 
 
There was a low groaning sound above him as Michiru stirred. 
He sucked in a quick breath and looked down at himself. He wasn't 
wearing any pants. "Oh god. What the hell did I do?" He already 
knew the answer to that and he closed his eyes. 
 
"Huh?" muttered Michiru as she woke up. "Oooohh..." 
 
Carrot grunted in pain as a bare foot slammed into his chest. 
Michiru jumped out of bed and ignored stepping on him as she 
rushed towards the bathroom. 
 
Carrot sat up after rolling around in pain for a moment. He 
glanced around and spotted his pants on the edge of the bed, 
along with what was left of his shirt. 
 
He lifted it up and stared at it for a moment. The buttons 
were all ripped off of it, and the collar was actually torn. "Oh 
man." He put it on anyway and slowly lifted himself onto the bed 
in order to put his pants on slowly. "Today is really gonna 
suck." 
 
The sound of Michiru retching in the bathroom didn't make him 
feel any better. 
 
"So much for not being her type," he muttered under his 
breath. 
 
+++++++++++++++++++ 
 
"G...good...morning," stammered Michiru as she stood in the 
doorway and blushed. She'd seen better days, and it was obvious 
that she would not be doing much for the rest of the day. She was 
wrapped in a towel and had nothing else on, but it didn't look 
particularly attractive at the moment. 
 
"Yeah," said Carrot quietly. He was simply sitting on the bed 
and hanging his head. He was already feeling a little better than 
he was when he woke up, but it wasn't doing his mood any good. In 
fact, it looked like he was thinking about something really hard. 
 
"Are you all right?" she asked quietly. 
 
"I've felt better," he replied calmly. 
 
"Oh," she said as she sat down beside him. She didn't try to 
touch him and simply frowned at the floor. 
 
He finally got up the nerve to speak up. "Did we?" 
 
"Yes," she replied without looking up at him. 
 
Carrot tried his best to keep his worsening mood from 
showing. He partially succeeded. 
 
"I don't feel well," said the girl as she sat completely 
still. 
 
"Yeah, drinking too much will do it to you," he replied 
calmly. 
 
"What were you talking about, this or...that?" she asked with 
a pained looking smile. 
 
"Both actually," he replied honestly. 
 
"This has happened to you before?" she said quietly. She 
wanted to sound angry, but it just wasn't in her. 
 
"No, but I've come close," he said with a small sigh. 
 
"Oh." 
 
Carrot looked at her for a moment. She almost sounded 
relieved. 
 
"Look, just get some rest, you'll feel better in a few hours. 
Stay in bed." 
 
She nodded and rolled slowly onto the bed. 
 
He stood up and started for the door. "I'll...see you later." 
He wasn't sure what to say to her. 
 
"Will you?" she asked. 
 
He turned to look at her, and her back was too him. He could 
hear the fear in her voice. 
 
He frowned at this as he watched her lay there. "Yeah. I 
promise." 
 
Her head moved as she nodded her reply. 
 
"Damn," he muttered quietly as he walked out of the room. 
"This is the last thing I need." He stopped and glanced back at 
the door. A soft crying floated towards him. "Shit." He turned 
and walked back into the doorway. "Michiru, I didn't mean it like 
that. I'm sorry." 
 
"I..." 
 
"Look. You know my life is complicated right now. You're a 
nice girl, I like you..." 
 
"But you don't want to see me again?" she replied quietly. 
 
"That's not it," he said as he leaned against the door. He 
was floundering badly. "I'm not thinking clearly right now. I'm 
not in much better condition than you are. I promise we'll talk 
about it later Michiru. Just...not now." 
 
The girl was huddled in a small ball under her sheets. Only 
her head wasn't covered. "It was my first time...with a man." 
 
Carrot nodded, even knowing she couldn't see him. He wanted 
to say something smart, anything to relieve the tension. Maybe 
something like, "Not your first time at all then? I feel better." 
He bit his tongue and remained silent. He knew it wasn't the time 
to be a smart-ass. 
 
Finally, unsure of what else to do, he turned back into the 
hall. "I'm leaving. Get some sleep. We'll...talk about this when 
we're both feeling better." 
 
He closed his eyes as he walked down the hallway. His fists 
were clenched tightly and he growled angrily at his own 
stupidity. His mind worked over what he could have said, what he 
should have done. "Damn it." 
 
The worst thing of all, was that he couldn't remember 
anything past the third bottle at the bar the night before. "This 
really sucks." He opened the door and was almost floored by the 
sunlight that rushed into his face. It was going to be a long 
walk home. 
 
++++++++++++++++++ 
 
"Back are you?" said Gia as she smirked at the boy who walked 
into her clinic. 
 
"Shut up," growled the boy irritably as he stood in the 
doorway. He had a dark pair of shades on his face and his dress 
was more than enough to let her know how the night had gone for 
him. 
 
"Well?" she said as she smiled at him cheerfully. 
 
"Not one word," he said as he walked past her. 
 
"Headache?" said the woman as she followed him in. 
 
He sat down at the table and sulked. Gia put a small bottle 
of pills down in front of him. "Two, no more than that." 
 
The boy glared at her and grabbed it. He downed three of 
them, more out of spite than actually needing them. He was 
already feeling a lot better, and his headache was just a dull 
throb. "It's almost gone anyway." 
 
"You're too young to be drinking," said Gia as she turned 
away. 
 
Carrot snorted. "Young." Was he really that young? He hadn't 
thought about it in a while. He looked about fifteen, but his 
memories told him he was much older. Which was the truth? Even he 
wasn't sure exactly. "Let's see you get chased around the city by 
a bomb throwing madman twenty stories over the street and see how 
much you need to drink the next day." 
 
Gia sat down and arched her eyebrow. "You've got a point." 
 
"Good." 
 
"Mei Lin has left already, she's at work now." 
 
Carrot nodded silently. "Luna?" 
 
"She's sleeping right now." 
 
The boy stood up and popped his back while stretching his 
arms out. "I've got a call to make today." 
 
Gia nodded. "Going out again?" 
 
"Not till tonight. I'll sleep as much as I can today though." 
He frowned as she sipped at her coffee and lifted up the 
newspaper. 
 
"Be careful." 
 
"Yeah," he replied as he walked away. 
 
Gia frowned as he walked off. "I never knew he had it in him. 
I'm gonna have to talk with him about this. It doesn't look like 
it went well this morning." 
 
++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot pocketed the card he'd used to dial the number he'd 
called. He was standing at a small pay phone near the clinic. 
"Inspector Kajura please." He was wearing a clean set of clothes 
and had his sunglasses on. His fingers tapped impatiently on the 
top of the phone as he waited for it to stop ringing. 
 
He frowned as he was put on hold. Glancing around at his 
surroundings he watched the people pass around him. 
 
"Kajura here." 
 
"You've got what I need?" 
 
There was silence on the other end for a moment. Carrot said 
nothing and waited. 
 
"Yeah. Where should I meet you?" 
 
"There's an old antiques shop three blocks down from where I 
am right now. It's called Misty Island Antiquities. It's a local 
owned place, so you should be able to get the address out of the 
phone book. You've got two hours." He hung up the phone and 
turned towards the shop. 
 
++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Kajura frowned as he glanced around the empty store. It was 
closed on Saturdays, and he found himself standing alone. A half- 
smoked cigarette hung from his mouth as he glanced around. 
 
Finally he found what he was looking for. Carrot was sitting 
across the street at a small cafe. He had a table and was sipping 
at a cup of tea. 
 
Kajura growled in annoyance as he crossed the street and 
moved over to the table. 
 
"You made it," said the boy without looking up from the menu. 
 
"You told me to meet you over there." 
 
"I was making sure you weren't followed this time," replied 
the boy calmly. 
 
Kajura growled as he ground the butt of his cigarette in his 
teeth. 
 
Carrot ignored this and continued speaking. "I didn't live 
this long by not learning from my mistakes. You could do to learn 
that yourself." 
 
The man merely nodded. "Fine." 
 
"You have what I need?" 
 
Kajura nodded and slid a small disk across the table. 
 
Carrot frowned at it for a moment, and picked it up. He 
didn't have a computer. 
 
"What's your plan kid?" 
 
"You let me worry about that. You just keep your end of the 
bargain, and I'll get you what you need. This is more dangerous 
than you realize." 
 
Kajura snorted at this. "Look kid, this isn't some spy 
movie..." He paused when he realized he was talking to an empty 
seat. "Son of a bitch." 
 
The waiter walked over to him and placed a bill on the table. 
The man growled and stared at it for a moment. "That little 
shit." With a heavy sigh, he pulled out his wallet. Putting up 
with the kid wasn't something he wasn't willing to do for what 
he'd get. 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot cursed as he stared at the disk in his hand. It wasn't 
a floppy; it was a small CD, not standard size either. "What the 
hell does he expect me to do with this?" 
 
The boy fell flat on his back on the rooftop he'd gone too 
after the meeting. "Shit. This was useless." He turned to glare 
at the tower and frowned deeply. "Son of a bitch, you owe me 
again Kajura." 
 
+++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Gia blinked. "What's this?" 
 
Carrot merely frowned at her sourly from behind the box he 
was holding in front of him. There were several smaller ones on 
top of it. "A computer." 
 
"You bought a computer?" she said dumbly as she stared at the 
boxes. 
 
"That idiot Kajura," grumbled Carrot as he pushed past her. 
 
"You can't afford an computer!" cried the woman as she 
followed after him. 
 
"Apparently I can," he commented as he set the boxes down on 
the floor. "Damn. This stupid thing was expensive too. I'm glad I 
stuck that asshole with the bill at the cafe now." 
 
Gia merely blinked and sat down at the table to watch him 
unpack his new computer. "What the hell?" 
 
"Quit starin!" snapped Carrot as he glanced over his shoulder 
at her. 
 
The woman sighed and turned her head away from him. "Never 
mind. I don't want to know." 
 
Carrot merely cursed as he dumped a huge pile of cables out 
onto the floor. "Damn. Stupid Kanji, I'm gonna have to figure 
this out on my own." 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
It was getting close to evening when Carrot finally managed 
to get the computer up and running so he could read the disk that 
Kajura had given him. It was a long and generally frustrating 
process, but he managed in the end. 
 
It seemed Kajura knew nothing about computers in general. The 
idiot didn't realize that in order to view the file he'd given 
the boy, Carrot would need special software. The boy grumbled in 
irritation as the program came up and a floor plan of the 
building appeared on the screen. "Idiot," he grumbled angrily as 
he typed. The error message of the program had told him the name 
of the program he'd needed to view the files. Unfortunately, it 
was fairly expensive, and he was out a few thousand yen. Not that 
it bothered him much really; it was more the general principal of 
the idea, and the time consuming task of setting up the computer. 
Luckily, he'd managed to find a keyboard with romanji, or he'd 
have been in a world of hurt. As it was, typing and figuring out 
what was being put on the screen was a rather slow and arduous 
process. 
 
"I hate computers in foreign languages," grumbled the boy as 
he scrolled around the screen. There was a small task bar off to 
the side of the map screen with a box for typing, and icons for 
each level of the building. All seventy of them. 
 
"Okay, I'm gonna need a secretary or something, preferably 
one near to the ground floor. Hisami's offices take up the top 
twenty floors, with the lower floors being front companies and 
such." 
 
Gia stared at the boy as he worked slowly. "Front companies?" 
she muttered. 
 
"Well, not really. I'm sure he uses them to launder money and 
all that, but these are all his legitimate businesses down here. 
The upper floors are his private offices. In other words, this is 
where most of the more important members of his little kingdom 
will have their offices. Even though they probably never even go 
there most of the time." 
 
Luna was sitting next to the pair and glanced back and fourth 
between them. "Why not?" 
 
Carrot was too engrossed in working to get irritated with the 
questions, so he answered her. "Because, these are the men who 
take care of what's going on in the streets. They'd spend most of 
their time in those areas. Hanging around the lower underlings, 
making sure things are going the way they're supposed too." 
 
The cat shrugged and stared at the new computer for a moment. 
She had no idea why, but she had an almost irresistible urge to 
jump onto the keyboard. She managed to fight it back and settled 
down on the ground. "So what are you looking for anyway?" 
 
"Secretary's," he replied calmly. "Well, there are one 
hundred and twenty three..." 
 
"Well that was useless," commented Gia. 
 
"Where the hell did Kajura get this? This is directly out of 
the Hisami building's database!" muttered Carrot as he stared 
down at the screen. "This isn't just a floor plan, it's a 
personnel tracker also. I'm not sure how up to date it is though, 
it would have gotten updated regularly if it was still hooked up 
to the system." 
 
"What does that mean?" asked Luna dumbly. 
 
"It means that this could be a year old," replied Carrot. "I 
doubt if Hisami's personal staff has changed that much though, 
but the staffing of the lower floors might be completely 
different." 
 
"So?" asked Gia. 
 
"You're right, it's not important. Besides, I've found what I 
want." 
 
"What's that?" asked Gia irritably. 
 
"There are over a hundred secretaries in the building, but 
only three in the top twenty floors. One for Hisami himself, that 
crazy ninja chick's mom I'll bet. Not touching that one with a 
pole. One for the senior vice president, that one is a 
possibility. Plus, one for the Chairman of the board? Carrot 
blinked in surprise at that one. "Hisami isn't sitting on top of 
his own company? That's a surprise. Wonder who that might be?" 
 
"I haven't got a clue," said Gia with a small shrug. 
 
"It was rhetorical," muttered Carrot under his breath. "In 
any case, that's the one closest to the ground floor. Floor 
fifty." 
 
"So that's the one?" asked Gia. 
 
Carrot nodded, that's where I'll try first. If I run into a 
problem, I'll move to the one on floor fifty-three." 
 
"So you're..." muttered Gia. 
 
"Going then," agreed Carrot with a serious looking nod. 
 
"What? Now?" said Gia dumbly. 
 
"That's right," said the boy calmly. "It's still early enough 
in the evening that I should be able to make it in while a lot of 
the employee's are going home. That will mean security is more 
lax, because of everyone wandering around the building." 
 
"Oh," muttered the woman with a small sigh. "I'll have some 
clean bandages and a few splints ready when you get back." 
 
Carrot paused as he grabbed the doorknob and hung his head. 
"You realize that I hate you." 
 
Luna just looked confused at the exchange. "What's he whining 
about? We both know he'll need them." 
 
"I'm not sure," said Gia with a small shrug as the boy walked 
out the door and ignored them. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
It was a chilly evening; a wind blew across the city, as 
Carrot stood on a rooftop that overlooked the tower that loomed 
high into the sky in front of him. He frowned as he pulled the 
pair of binoculars in his hand away from his face and turned his 
gaze to the ground. "Shit. I can't see much from here. I guess 
I'm just gonna have to wing it, like last time." 
 
He jumped down to the sidewalk and landed neatly in the 
shadows. His body seemed to melt out of them as he strolled 
forward, unnoticed by any of the people around him. He looked up 
at the fortress of iron and glass and simply stopped to take in 
the scope of his task. "This is gonna be a real chore." With a 
heavy sigh, he strolled right through the front doors of the 
building and casually walked into the thinning crowd that was 
exiting the building. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
The security desk never noticed his passing as he walked into 
the lobby and to the elevators. He smirked to himself as he 
strolled against the crowd along the edge opposite the security 
desk. 
 
He paused in the center of the rows of elevators and glanced 
around. They were in heavy use at the moment, but that was the 
least of his concern. Inside each one, was a small security 
camera in the back corner. They hadn't been there the last time 
he'd been inside the tower, and it could pose a problem for him 
if he wanted to sneak up to the upper floors. 
 
He snorted and shifted back slightly to an unused corner of 
the area. There were several long hallways between the rows of 
elevators that led to lower offices on the floor. Traffic to and 
from these offices was almost non existent. He stood there 
mulling over the new problem for a moment. He could try to climb 
the stairs, which probably also had several cameras he'd have to 
avoid. 
 
"That's a long damn climb too," he commented to himself as he 
looked around the place he was standing. A wry grin formed on his 
face as he noticed a large ventilation shaft opposite him. "I'll 
bet that goes..." 
 
+++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot grunted as he squeezed through the opening into the 
larger shaft that moved vertically up and down. He looked around 
and coughed as the dust from his entrance filled his lungs for a 
moment. He was inside the elevator shaft; the elevator itself was 
below him hanging from the cables. It was dark, pitch black 
almost, but he could see enough to know that the elevator wasn't 
that far below him. 
 
He shifted himself into a crouching position with his feet on 
the edge of the shaft he'd just climbed though. It was tricky, 
but he managed to keep his balance long enough to grab the cable 
that would lift the elevator up and down. "Now what?" he said to 
himself as he realized that he had no control over where the 
elevator would go. 
 
He landed on top of the roof silently and sat to mull over it 
for a moment. Looking around at his surroundings he frowned. 
There was a maintenance ladder that appeared to go all the way 
up. 
 
"Shit," he grumbled under his breath as he slunk over to it 
and gripped it hatefully. "This is really gonna suck." 
 
++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
An hour and a half later... 
 
Carrot was sweaty, irritable, and his arms and legs burned in 
agony as he hung from the metal rungs that seemed to fall into 
infinity below him, unfortunately, they seemed to reach just as 
far in the other direction. "Shoulda taken the god damn stairs," 
he cursed. The clothes he'd been wearing when he'd entered the 
building were discarded now, hanging from the rungs some distance 
below him, covered in sweat. The white shirt and tie were little 
more than a disguise he'd used to get into the building in the 
first place. His Spiderman costume was much better suited to 
sneaking around and he was now wearing it. 
 
Unfortunately, it was hot and heavy, due to the armor sewn 
into the chest. His mask was tucked into his pants and his feet 
were sore due to the insufficient padding in the soles. They were 
little more than slippers, made more for moving quietly rather 
than comfort. 
 
He turned his head and groaned painfully as he hung for a 
moment to rest. The floor number was painted on the opposite wall 
in large yellow numbers. "Thirty seven." He had to go all the way 
to fifty. 
 
"Damn it, you owe me big Kajura," he growled under his breath 
as he continued to climb. 
 
+++++++++++++++++ 
 
An hour later... 
 
"Ah! Ah ha ha ha ha! Fifty! Ha ha!" gasped Carrot as he 
stared at the numbers opposite him on the wall. "I made it! Ha ha 
ha!" His laugh was tired and he wiped his brow with his arm as he 
hung there for a moment enjoying his triumph. 
 
That was when he realized that there was a huge mechanical 
door in front of him, and that the air vents had stopped about 
ten floors below him. 
 
"Son of a bitch!" 
 
+++++++++++++++++ 
 
Another half-hour passed... 
 
 
Carrot growled as he grunted angrily. He had an axe in his 
hands that he was using to wedge between the two doors of the 
elevator. It groaned and creaked as he shoved the doors apart 
with all his might. 
 
He'd had to go ten floors down, shove himself into another 
air vent, and then find the axe in a fire station next to a large 
hose. He'd thought about using the stairs to get up to the next 
ten floors. Unfortunately, when he'd checked the stairwell, he'd 
noticed a number of security cameras between himself and his 
objective. After resting for a few minutes, he'd gone back to the 
elevator shaft with the axe and made the ten floor climb to reach 
the doors again. 
 
The door opened enough for him to wedge his hands inside, he 
strained as he pried them apart with all his might and shoved 
himself through. It took a bit of effort, but he managed to 
squeeze through the opening. The doors closed behind him and he 
lay flat on his back in the hallway with the axe in his hand. 
 
"Ha! I made it!" He grinned as he lay there panting and 
stared at the ceiling. After a moment, he crossed his eyes as he 
realized something. There was a red beam of light about three 
feet above his head just over his nose. 
 
"Huh?" He turned his gaze down the hall and sighed heavily. 
There were dozens of them. "Oh man. Can't I catch a break?" 
 
+++++++++++++++++++ 
 
It turned out that the laser alarms were only present in the 
first few hallways of the floor, mostly around the elevators. He 
was relieved to say the least. "Now, where the hell am I? How do 
I get where I'm going?" He pulled on his mask as he started 
walking. 
 
He frowned as he glanced around himself in search of a 
landmark. He had some idea of the general area of where he needed 
to be, and only a little about the maze of cubicles and offices 
he had to navigate. He wasn't too worried, the place looked 
absolutely deserted. 
 
"Okay. This way I think." He started walking and froze in 
place. A blue circle of light was present on the floor; it was 
wide and covered a huge area. He rolled and dove for cover as it 
moved across the ground in a curving manner. 
 
"What the hell? Searchlights?" he muttered as he waited for 
it to pass by him. He slowly peered over the low wall of the 
cubicle he'd hid in. He was expecting to see a security officer 
with a flashlight or something. There was nothing there though. 
"What the hell?" 
 
He frowned and stayed where he was, mulling over this new 
development. "Some kind of motion sensor, or a new security 
device?" It could pose a large problem if it was something he 
didn't know about. 
 
Slowly, he waited for the beam to pass a second time and 
peered over the ledge again. He could see the beam now, coming 
from a corner of the room. In fact, he could see three others 
just like it. "Huh?" 
 
He was looking at a security camera. It took him a moment to 
realize it, but that was indeed what it was. "I can see where 
it's pointing?" he muttered dumbly. It seemed as if the security 
cameras all had a dim light on them to illuminate the area they 
were scanning. That was stupid though, it made them much easier 
to avoid. He thought back to the infrared beams and frowned. 
"Those should be invisible too. Something's not right here. Some 
sort of new power? Maybe something similar to my Spidersense?" He 
frowned as he thought about it. 
 
The whole mess was starting to make sense now. His powers 
were growing stronger, he'd been able to see the infrared beams 
when he first came to the tower, then his body developed the 
alert system it now had, and now he could see where the security 
cameras were pointing. It was similar to the way his iron pole 
had once been a much flimsier metal pipe. Once he'd picked up the 
pole in Hisami's office, he'd never created another pipe. It then 
evolved into the wires he used as transportation. He noted that 
he did not lose the ability to create iron poles either. His 
fighting skills had grown sharper in a relatively short amount of 
time, and it was taking less and less time for him to recover 
from a injury. Even when it was what most people would consider a 
serious injury. 
 
"This is fucking strange," he commented too himself as he 
looked at his hands for a moment. "What's happening to me?" 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
"Mitsuki, come," said the Oyabun as he stood up from his 
desk. The window behind him was long ago repaired and he peered 
out at the city. "It is time for bed." 
 
The woman turned to look at him for a moment. "As you say." 
She bowed placidly and waited for him to walk by. 
 
"Go do the rounds, I shall meet you," he said calmly, as if 
giving the time of day. 
 
"Yes," she said as she strolled silently from the room and 
into the outer office. 
 
As soon as the door closed behind her she frowned. 
"Something..." There was a noise, so slight that she almost did 
not notice it. It seemed to be a humming sound. "Where?" She 
glanced around, looking at the ceiling first. It sounded almost 
like something mechanical that was having a problem. She'd have 
to call maintenance to fix it in the morning. 
 
She paused under the air conditioning vent and frowned. The 
sound was not coming from the vent. Standing still and closing 
her eyes she cocked her head. "Where are you?" She slowly turned, 
halfway expecting to find a computer running, or a printer 
perhaps. There were several such devices in the room at various 
points. They were all silent though. 
 
Her eyes went wide as she found the source. She slowly turned 
her head towards the sound and stepped back. 
 
The glass was still broken as it hung there on the wall. The 
singe ruby eye glared at her on the hilt of the blade as it 
simply remained where it was. She stepped towards it and frowned 
deeply as she saw several tiny tendrils of electricity moving 
across the hilt. 
 
"He's here!" she muttered quietly as she stepped back away 
from the blade. "It can't be!" Her hand went down to the blade at 
her side reflexively as she glanced around the room. "Damn." 
 
Without another word, she strolled out of the office and into 
the dark hallways. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot frowned as he looked at the fork in the hallway. It 
wasn't the first time he'd run into a place like this, and he 
tried his best to continue in the same general direction. It was 
difficult to tell though. There was a lot of floor space in the 
offices, and even more hallways. "Son of a bitch. Where the hell 
am I?" he grumbled under his breath. With a heavy sigh he put the 
axe in his hand on the ground blade first. He balanced it on his 
palm for a moment and then stepped back, letting it fall to the 
ground. He looked in the direction it was pointing and pointed 
with his finger. "This way? Okay then. Off we go." He picked it 
up and continued on his way. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Far below, on the thirtieth floor... 
 
"Kei." 
 
The girl frowned as she opened her eyes, annoyed that someone 
would disturb her meditation. "What is it?" She was sitting in a 
lotus position staring at the wall in front of her in her room. 
It was little more than a small dresser and bed with a tiny 
closet in the corner. 
 
"We have a visitor," said the tall bulky shadow that melted 
into her room from the doorway. 
 
She frowned at him and did not speak. 
 
"He's in the building. Your mother claims to have sensed 
him." 
 
"Sensed?" muttered Kei irritably. 
 
"He probably tripped one of the silent alarms. She didn't say 
what floor he was on though," said the man calmly as he chuckled 
slightly. "In any case, I'm going to deal with it." 
 
"The old man is near there isn't he?" asked Kei as she turned 
back towards the wall. 
 
"Possibly, but I doubt if he'll interfere." 
 
"Why wouldn't he?" asked Kei sourly. 
 
"Because he knows that I have the school here. Why bother?" 
said the large man as he turned away. "I'm going to take my 
shinobi and find him. He'll not escape." 
 
"Yes he will, and I'll be sure to remind you of that when you 
return in shame," said the girl calmly. 
 
The large shadow uncrossed his arms slightly and frowned 
suddenly. "You think too much of the skill of a single man... or 
perhaps... you wish him to escape?" 
 
"Of course. He's mine. Only I will kill him in the end. Even 
Hikyu failed, and you saw what they did to him." 
 
"Hikyu was weakened by those monsters, he was destined to 
fail." 
 
"Even if that is true, he defeated my uncle when he was at 
his strongest. You won't succeed where he failed. You'll try 
anyway, and he'll kill you as well." 
 
The large ninja growled hatefully. "I'll bring you his head 
and make you eat it for those words." 
 
Kei merely smiled and closed her eyes again. "I'll have my 
plate ready when you return uncle." 
 
The ninja growled hatefully and backed into the shadows once 
again, leaving her in peace. 
 
"Our destiny lies together boy," said Kei to herself. "I 
don't know why that is, but it is the truth. Only I can kill 
you." 
 
+++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot grumbled as he stared at the web of lights below him. 
He was staring down into the office he needed to enter. "All this 
security for some loser's office?" he muttered dumbly. 
 
He was sitting in an air vent just above the office. There 
was a heavily guarded glass door that led into a small security 
room. It required a key card to enter, and then a handprint to 
move into the actual office from there. It was absolutely 
ridiculous. 
 
The only thing that made it worse was the fact that there was 
an airshaft in the center of the office that led into the air 
conditioning system. Carrot guessed that the heavy security was a 
later addition to the office. He wasn't sure he wanted to know 
why they felt the need to add it. 
 
With a heavy sigh he lifted the grate out of place and set it 
aside. He had one of his wires firmly tied to a pipe just above 
the airshaft. He'd actually ripped a hole in the thin metal to 
find something to latch onto. It hadn't been that difficult, 
especially with the aid of the axe he'd gotten from the emergency 
fire station. 
 
He hung upside down and slowly slid his way into the room. 
The web of light was spread out across the floor and up and down 
the doorway to enter. He had little to worry about as he hung 
upside down and stopped himself in front of the screen. 
 
With a grunt of effort, he flipped himself over and squat 
down in the computer chair in front of the machine. With a snort 
of disgust he reached behind it and turned it on. 
 
"Come on. Damn," he muttered as he waited for it to boot up. 
He blinked as a screen came up with a text box on it. There was a 
small lock on the corner of the message. It was all written in 
kanji, he couldn't understand anything more than the word 
'enter'. "Shit." He glanced down at the keys and frowned, it was 
a Japanese keyboard. "Bloody hell." 
 
After a moment of cussing, he looked up at the corner of the 
screen and frowned. There was a post-it note with a row of kanji 
on it stuck there. 
 
"No way. There's no way," he muttered as he tried to find the 
kanji on the keys. He typed experimentally, and found that the 
kanji shifted and changed as he typed. He had to backspace a few 
times, but eventually he found the right combination through 
trial and error. "Okay." He hit 'enter' and held his breath. 
 
The next screen was illegible as well, but he sighed as he 
realized that it was indeed the password. "So much for high 
security. Jeez, you'd think they'd fire the moron that did 
something like this after spending all this money on this much 
crap." 
 
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a disk. He'd 
brought along several different kinds, but there was a standard 
floppy drive so he used that one. 
 
There were only about seven icons on the screen, and they all 
looked like office software of some kind. He clicked around 
several times and found the kanji for Hisami on a few of them. 
Without thinking about it too much, he copied them to the disk. 
It was fairly painless; they were little more than text documents 
really. 
 
After shifting around a bit, he continued to copy anything he 
found that seemed like it was small enough to fit on the disk 
easily. There wasn't really that much there in all honestly. 
Mostly long boring looking pages of text that had no real meaning 
too him. 
 
Finally, he found something that looked interesting. "Hey. I 
think this is it." He scrolled down and smiled. It was a table 
like page, with Hisami's name all over it, and times with what 
looked like mostly names and places. "This is it." He was fairly 
certain of it and had an evil looking grin on his face as he 
copied it to the disk. 
 
He glanced up at the wire and moved to pull himself up before 
he blinked and looked back over his shoulder for a moment. The 
hallway was empty and he had little to worry about at the moment. 
There were no guards, and it seemed as if Hisami was relying on 
technology to protect this level of the building. "Smooth 
sailing." 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot pulled himself into the shaft again and carefully 
replaced the grate. It was easy enough to do, as it wasn't even 
screwed in. It just sort of sat in place with sort of clips that 
wedged into the vent itself. He smirked to himself as he started 
to crawl through the dusty vent back the way he came. "This 
espionage stuff isn't too hard." He slid out of the vent and 
turned a corner. 
 
He froze and crouched low with his eyes wide with shock at 
what he saw. 
 
There was about twenty figures dressed in black entering the 
doorway on the opposite side of the sea of cubicles. 
 
"Fan out. Search everywhere," said the largest of them as he 
stood in front of the door and waved his arm out. 
 
The smaller shinobi stood upright and bowed to him deeply 
before turning and moving into a silent patrol of the floor. 
 
"Oh shit!" said Carrot as he glanced back behind him. He 
backed away and frowned as he slid into the darkness. Going 
forward was not an option at this point, he had to find a place 
to hide and lay low quick. Unfortunately, that probably wasn't a 
good idea and he knew it. The shinobi would be looking in places 
like that. "Where did I screw up?" he muttered under his breath 
as he slunk through the shadows, almost unconsciously avoiding 
any of the red beams or searchlight like patterns of the security 
cameras as he moved away from the closing shinobi. 
 
Finally he hit a wall; there was nowhere to go. He was 
screwed. "Fuck! Think Carrot, think!" He turned his head and 
blinked. He was standing right next to the entrance to a fire 
escape. 
 
++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot cursed as his legs burned. His breath was short and he 
was sweating badly. He knew what was below him, just behind him. 
The army of shinobi was climbing steadily after him. He hadn't 
been spotted yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time before 
he ran out of room to run. Hopefully, they would give up before 
they reached the top floor. He doubted it though and grit his 
teeth as he pushed himself as hard as he could in his flight. 
 
Running really sucked, but it was his only option. 
 
He paused for a moment as he realized where he was. In front 
of him was the door to Hisami's office. He glanced back over his 
shoulder and growled angrily as he stared at it for a moment. 
Finally, he turned and rushed up the stairs higher into the 
building. 
 
That room was the last place he wanted to go. He barely 
escaped with his life the last time he went in, and picking the 
lock again was out of the question. He doubted if he had time 
anyway. He simply moved upward, not caring about how much noise 
he was making. The security cameras stopped about ten floors 
behind him anyway. If they found him at this point, there was 
little he could do about it. 
 
Finally, out of breath and out of ideas, he hit the last 
door. "Shit." He glanced behind him and frowned. "Guess this is 
it, no turning back now." He rushed up to the door and pushed it 
open in a full sprit. 
 
He staggered out onto the rooftop and fell onto the gravel 
face first as he lost his footing due to the loose surface. He 
pushed himself up on his hands and slowly raised his head. 
 
The rooftop was a wide-open space. It was easily fifty yards 
in every direction. There was a twenty by fifty building behind 
him, housing the air conditioning system as well as the 
elevators. A large radio antenna rose a hundred feet above the 
surface of the roof over the roof on top of it. He was in the 
center of the building lying on his chest. There was nowhere to 
hide up here for him. 
 
To make matters worse, a dangerously familiar voice sounded 
in front of him as he looked up. "Welcome. I've been expecting 
you." 
 
Kei's mother was standing about ten feet in front of him with 
her hand on the hilt of her blade. She had a dark smile on her 
face as she stared him down coldly. "You'll not escape this 
time." 
 
Carrot growled as he slowly rose to his feet and returned her 
glare from beneath his mask. 
 
"I admire your choice of clothing," she commented as she 
arched her eyebrow. 
 
"Yeah. I've heard a lot of that lately," he replied with a 
deadly calm to his tone. 
 
Mitsuki slowly drew her blade. 
 
Carrot crouched low and spread his arms wide. 
 
"You've changed your fighting style?" she commented idly as 
she noticed his stance was much different. 
 
"I call it the Spider's Fang," he replied simply. 
 
Shock was immediately clear on the woman's face. 
"Impossible!" 
 
Carrot wasn't sure what to make of that, but he remained in 
his stance and started to sway back and forth calmly. "Shall we 
get this over with? We'll be having company soon." 
 
Mitsuki's face hardened and she frowned deeply at him. "Yes. 
This time I shall destroy you!" 
 
Carrot tensed his body and prepared himself. He was in a 
world of shit and he knew it. The deadly kunoichi was in front of 
him, there was an army of shinobi behind him, and he was seventy 
stories above the street with nowhere to go. "Son of a bitch. How 
the hell am I gonna get out of this one?" he muttered to himself 
angrily. 
 
He didn't have time to think about it as Mitsuki charged 
forward with her blade slicing at him. 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
TBC... 
 
Heh. Know the true evil that is the cliffhanger! 
Bwahahahahahahaaaa! 
 
Next time: Well, that's fairly obvious isn't it?